Children learning to read too early: is this a thing?
September 8, 2014 10:46 AM Subscribe
My mom says I shouldn't really encourage my just-turning-4-year-old daughter to read too soon because she'll just get bored in school. I hadn't thought of this. Is there possibly some truth to this?
Let me say first that my mom's not talking out of a place of ignorance here: she has a degree in education and was a kindergarten teacher briefly before having to leave on disability. Still, I'm excited about teaching my daughter to read. Plus, she is way too interested in watching tv and shows on the iPad so the sooner I can get her actively consuming books instead of passively consuming show, the better (I figure). She can recognize all the upper and lower case letters now and can tell me the sounds the consonants make. In the past week I've been taking out a set of plastic alphabet letters and showing her how you can make different words by swapping letters out - 'hat' to 'cat', etc. She seems to be enthusiastic and curious about it, and I just do a little bit and present it as 'hey, look, this is cool'. She picks things up really fast and without a lot of coaching/practice, so I could see her starting to read in maybe 6 months.
I thought earlier reading was awesome and that it would set her up for success in school and never considered that there could be a down side to it. I definitely don't want to set her up for boredom in school. She's been in daycare since she was a year old. She'll go to kindergarten next year. I'm not worried about that as kindergarten is still largely play. But I could see grade one being boring, maybe, if she knows everything already. If I thought she was going to turn out to be a super nerd (which I kind of am), then I wouldn't be one bit concerned about getting her reading really soon. I was reading before kindergarten. I was socially awkward and needed books like air. But she's actually a lot more interested in people, a true extrovert, than books. What I'm saying is that she's super smart but not destined (I think) to be a bookworm like I was. I can see that I'm overthinking this pretty neurotically, but I just want to do the right things for her. Can someone offer options, anecdotes and research?
Let me say first that my mom's not talking out of a place of ignorance here: she has a degree in education and was a kindergarten teacher briefly before having to leave on disability. Still, I'm excited about teaching my daughter to read. Plus, she is way too interested in watching tv and shows on the iPad so the sooner I can get her actively consuming books instead of passively consuming show, the better (I figure). She can recognize all the upper and lower case letters now and can tell me the sounds the consonants make. In the past week I've been taking out a set of plastic alphabet letters and showing her how you can make different words by swapping letters out - 'hat' to 'cat', etc. She seems to be enthusiastic and curious about it, and I just do a little bit and present it as 'hey, look, this is cool'. She picks things up really fast and without a lot of coaching/practice, so I could see her starting to read in maybe 6 months.
I thought earlier reading was awesome and that it would set her up for success in school and never considered that there could be a down side to it. I definitely don't want to set her up for boredom in school. She's been in daycare since she was a year old. She'll go to kindergarten next year. I'm not worried about that as kindergarten is still largely play. But I could see grade one being boring, maybe, if she knows everything already. If I thought she was going to turn out to be a super nerd (which I kind of am), then I wouldn't be one bit concerned about getting her reading really soon. I was reading before kindergarten. I was socially awkward and needed books like air. But she's actually a lot more interested in people, a true extrovert, than books. What I'm saying is that she's super smart but not destined (I think) to be a bookworm like I was. I can see that I'm overthinking this pretty neurotically, but I just want to do the right things for her. Can someone offer options, anecdotes and research?
What? No.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:51 AM on September 8, 2014 [91 favorites]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 10:51 AM on September 8, 2014 [91 favorites]
Whaaaaaa? First, recognizing letters and sounding consonants is not particularly advanced for a 4-year old. Second, you should be encouraging anything to do with language that she is enthusiastic about. Maybe someone with real knowledge can chime in, but my reaction is that is the silliest thing I've ever heard.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:52 AM on September 8, 2014 [17 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:52 AM on September 8, 2014 [17 favorites]
Are there gifted learning programs at the school where your daughter will be attending kindergarten, and 1st grade? If she's reading at a higher level than her peers, she could be placed in special/gifted ed, or allowed to take some modules with older kids. I was a four-year-old reader and enjoyed lots of special attention and fun books during 1st and 2nd grades--never bored, really, because I was always reading. And then I got to take "computers" (this was the early 1990s) and creative writing with 3rd-graders, which was a thrill. All the early accelerated learning translated to enthusiasm for learning, and the constant encouragement/reinforcement that I was smart and capable helped set me up for academic success farther along. Not to put too much on it, but I think the extra attention was a really important foundation to the self-esteem I enjoy as an adult today.
But a lot of that depended on teachers being kind to me and allowing me some autonomy, and on my parents working with teachers to make that happen. In a larger school, that might not be possible. But I think reading is fantastic, and the earlier the better!
posted by magdalemon at 10:52 AM on September 8, 2014
But a lot of that depended on teachers being kind to me and allowing me some autonomy, and on my parents working with teachers to make that happen. In a larger school, that might not be possible. But I think reading is fantastic, and the earlier the better!
posted by magdalemon at 10:52 AM on September 8, 2014
Anecdotes: I was reading far above my grade level in 1st and 2nd grade. I'd finish quizzes early and then read under my desk in secret.
Yeah, I was bored. And then they noticed I was above grade level, tested me, and put me in accelerated classes. And it was awesome.
Why handicap your child just so she can fit in by keeping her ignorant of something she has the capacity to learn?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:53 AM on September 8, 2014 [80 favorites]
Yeah, I was bored. And then they noticed I was above grade level, tested me, and put me in accelerated classes. And it was awesome.
Why handicap your child just so she can fit in by keeping her ignorant of something she has the capacity to learn?
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:53 AM on September 8, 2014 [80 favorites]
I learned to read at four and it set in motion a life-long love affair with books and reading that has never faded. I still feel excited upon entering libraries. If you asked my Mother, she would say that the key is primary schooling that can accommodate advanced/gifted learners in some fashion. The one year I was in a school that didn't have that, she could see that I was mentally checking out. Moved schools and right back on track.
posted by oneaday at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by oneaday at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [9 favorites]
I learned how to read right before I turned three and have been an eager reader ever since. If she's curious don't hold her back.
Also extroverts can like books too!
posted by sweetkid at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Also extroverts can like books too!
posted by sweetkid at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Anecdote: I learned to read at 3, thanks to my parents reading to me and The Electric Company on TV, and even got a head start on some other subjects as a child because we lived in a national park in Africa for a couple of years, and one of our neighbors was a teacher who'd accompanied her husband on his research trip and was bored enough to start a small school teaching the kids on the research station.
Result: when I got into regular school in the US in first grade, my teachers put me into the higher reading and math groups. All of my classes were stratified to an extent so that kids with similar abilities were clustered together and worked on different things. When I was bored in class, it was because I didn't want to do what the teacher told us to do, not because I wasn't being challenged.
The main problem with me was that I skipped kindergarten, as we were in Africa during that time, and they put me into first grade so I'd be with my age-mates, and kindergarten is where you learned to do what the teacher says when the teacher says to do it, so I was a bit of a handful when I didn't want to do my work.
posted by telophase at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014
Result: when I got into regular school in the US in first grade, my teachers put me into the higher reading and math groups. All of my classes were stratified to an extent so that kids with similar abilities were clustered together and worked on different things. When I was bored in class, it was because I didn't want to do what the teacher told us to do, not because I wasn't being challenged.
The main problem with me was that I skipped kindergarten, as we were in Africa during that time, and they put me into first grade so I'd be with my age-mates, and kindergarten is where you learned to do what the teacher says when the teacher says to do it, so I was a bit of a handful when I didn't want to do my work.
posted by telophase at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014
Kindergarten is by no means "play" anymore.
I'm not sure where in the world you are, but my daughter just finished Kindergarten in the midwest of America and she had a multitude of things she needed to know upon exit, including a list of 100 sight-words.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
I'm not sure where in the world you are, but my daughter just finished Kindergarten in the midwest of America and she had a multitude of things she needed to know upon exit, including a list of 100 sight-words.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
I was an early reader. In kindergarten, I would ball up my fists and turn pink with impatience during the initial letter-learning, but the teacher noticed this and decided to make me burn off that energy by helping my classmates. It worked. I was accelerated every year, landed college scholarships for writing, and I've spent most of my career writing professionally.
I wasn't so great at math or sports, but my confidence in reading and grammar gave me a sense of self worth.
I wouldn't have that if I'd been held back.
posted by mochapickle at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
I wasn't so great at math or sports, but my confidence in reading and grammar gave me a sense of self worth.
I wouldn't have that if I'd been held back.
posted by mochapickle at 10:54 AM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
OK, with the caveat that I am not a parent: I was an early reader, and the idea of discouraging reading is pretty nonsensical to me. Yes, I was ahead of my classes in elementary school, but I was given extra things to do while other students finished their work, and my parents encouraged other activities at home. At some point (3rd grade?) I was in a G&T program and that wasn't boring at all.
Reading is awesome, I would never discourage it. However - the one thing I wish my parents had done differently is to praise me for effort and not natural ability, because the second things started to get difficult (high school chemistry and trigonometry), I got frustrated and tuned out. It's still hard for me to complete things that don't come easily. You have a long time before that happens, though!
posted by desjardins at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Reading is awesome, I would never discourage it. However - the one thing I wish my parents had done differently is to praise me for effort and not natural ability, because the second things started to get difficult (high school chemistry and trigonometry), I got frustrated and tuned out. It's still hard for me to complete things that don't come easily. You have a long time before that happens, though!
posted by desjardins at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
I was "ahead" of my peers in reading for basically all of elementary school, and definitely in the earlier years l. I got frustrated by listening to them read aloud and also usually finished all the books we were reading as a class way before the group did. But none of this comes close to outweighing the joy and companionship I got from books as a child. My memories of reading and books from my childhood are among my most treasured. Teach your kid to read as soon as they are able.
posted by hepta at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by hepta at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
I'm not worried about that as kindergarten is still largely play.
Are you sure that's true in your district? In recent years, the standard kindergarten curriculum has become much more focused on reading and writing, and kids who come in without knowing how to do either will likely find themselves in the minority among their classmates. Of course this will still vary among different districts and individual schools, but check and see what's typical in the school you think your daughter will go to. At my kid's kindergarten, almost all had at least basic reading skills by the time they began. (Writing took a little longer.)
In any case, I can't think of any drawbacks to learning how to read at age 4 - it's not like she'll ever run out of books to read!
posted by lisa g at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Are you sure that's true in your district? In recent years, the standard kindergarten curriculum has become much more focused on reading and writing, and kids who come in without knowing how to do either will likely find themselves in the minority among their classmates. Of course this will still vary among different districts and individual schools, but check and see what's typical in the school you think your daughter will go to. At my kid's kindergarten, almost all had at least basic reading skills by the time they began. (Writing took a little longer.)
In any case, I can't think of any drawbacks to learning how to read at age 4 - it's not like she'll ever run out of books to read!
posted by lisa g at 10:56 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
This is silly. Your kid should learn to read as soon as she shows the aptitude for it. Don't withhold the joy that books can give her just to (maybe) avoid (possible) boredom (in the future maybe but not probably).
To make this official: I was reading when I was 3, having been taught by my parents (mostly my mother). My mom has taught elementary school for 30 years and has a masters in childhood education. Her mother was an elementary school principal for decades and was an elementary school teacher before that. Her grandmother was an elementary school teacher as well. And they made sure I was reading as soon as I could.
I was bored to death all through school but ended up valedictorian, so it's not like being bored is the end of the world.
posted by phunniemee at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014 [7 favorites]
To make this official: I was reading when I was 3, having been taught by my parents (mostly my mother). My mom has taught elementary school for 30 years and has a masters in childhood education. Her mother was an elementary school principal for decades and was an elementary school teacher before that. Her grandmother was an elementary school teacher as well. And they made sure I was reading as soon as I could.
I was bored to death all through school but ended up valedictorian, so it's not like being bored is the end of the world.
posted by phunniemee at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014 [7 favorites]
Eh. I was an early reader, and I already knew how to read when I started school. Because of that, I was singled out for special lessons while the other kids were learning how to read. The problem was that nobody explained that I was doing different stuff because I already knew how to read, and somehow I got it in my head that I was being separated from everyone else because there was something wrong with me. It wasn't until years later when I asked my mom if I had been in special ed in kindergarten that I realized that I was separated because I was more advanced, not because I was behind or bad in some way. (I also had undiagnosed ADHD as a kid and was a bit of a handful, so that was kind of a rational assumption.) I think that probably nobody wanted to make a big deal out of it, which is admirable, but it confused me.
But! I loved to read as a kid, and I don't think there were any lasting bad effects from my kindergarten confusion. So my vote is to go ahead and teach her, but maybe put a little bit of thought into how you approach things once she starts school.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014
But! I loved to read as a kid, and I don't think there were any lasting bad effects from my kindergarten confusion. So my vote is to go ahead and teach her, but maybe put a little bit of thought into how you approach things once she starts school.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014
Based on anecdotal evidence from me and everyone I have ever met, no. I remember, when I was researching Waldorf schools, that I was curious about their reasons for not teaching reading in the younger grades. I read several explanations that discussed children's readiness to learn language, but reading the founder's original rationale, that reading could damage a child's spiritual being, made me suspicious about the basis of all their theories.
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/11/what-every-parent-should-know-about-steiner-waldorf-schools.html
I know you're not asking specifically about Waldorf education, and I know people have gotten excellent education at these schools, but it seems that early reading proponents have less hogwash at their base.
posted by bibliowench at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2012/11/what-every-parent-should-know-about-steiner-waldorf-schools.html
I know you're not asking specifically about Waldorf education, and I know people have gotten excellent education at these schools, but it seems that early reading proponents have less hogwash at their base.
posted by bibliowench at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014
If you want to do more research on reading and literacy, Reading Rockets has a lot of neat stuff compiled all in one place. It's a great resource.
Teach your child how to read. If she's passionate or interested in something like reading, don't hold her back! Let her delve into it with all of that magical childhood enthusiasm!
You're probably going to have times in school where you are going to have to step up and advocate for more challenging work. With such an emphasis on test scores these days, sometimes the smartest kids are left to fend for themselves a little bit more. Stay involved and if it doesn't seem like she's being challenged, address that with the teacher.
I see no reason to hold back on reading. Go for it!
posted by Ostara at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Teach your child how to read. If she's passionate or interested in something like reading, don't hold her back! Let her delve into it with all of that magical childhood enthusiasm!
You're probably going to have times in school where you are going to have to step up and advocate for more challenging work. With such an emphasis on test scores these days, sometimes the smartest kids are left to fend for themselves a little bit more. Stay involved and if it doesn't seem like she's being challenged, address that with the teacher.
I see no reason to hold back on reading. Go for it!
posted by Ostara at 10:57 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was reading at three and I always hear about this, how smart kids are dangerously bored in school, but I never was. Let her read!
posted by something something at 10:58 AM on September 8, 2014
posted by something something at 10:58 AM on September 8, 2014
I also came into kindergarten reading, and my teacher let me whip through the workbook at my own pace and then gave me chapter books to read (and talked to me about them while the other students were working.) I went to a good public school in a well-funded district, though - ymmv. I was bored to shit in school, but kindergarten had nothing to do with it. School is often boring, is all.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:59 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by restless_nomad at 10:59 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
My mom (also an educator) had this attitude. I didn't learn to read at home, but I picked it up very easily when I started kindergarten, and then read heavily throughout my childhood. I was headed to a small public school that had nothing in the way of gifted or accelerated programs, which I think makes a big difference in your question.
posted by geegollygosh at 11:01 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by geegollygosh at 11:01 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I should say that it wasn't like my mom pulled books from my hands or anything. She just didn't do phonix exercises with me at the dinner table.
posted by geegollygosh at 11:03 AM on September 8, 2014
posted by geegollygosh at 11:03 AM on September 8, 2014
I learned to read at 3 and wasn't bored in elementary school, but instead got placed into advanced/gifted classes, which was great. My nephew is 8 now and was an early reader and wasn't bored either. I wouldn't discourage early reading.
posted by bedhead at 11:05 AM on September 8, 2014
posted by bedhead at 11:05 AM on September 8, 2014
My younger daughter is not really reading in first grade, and it's problematic for her. (As compared to my elder daughter who was reading chapter books.) Being able to read earlier makes all the rest of the schooling easier. And they don't exactly teach the kids to read in kindergarten.
posted by leahwrenn at 11:06 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by leahwrenn at 11:06 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was an early reader (around age three) and I was bored in school. That wasn't because I learned to read early; it was because my school did not have adequate programs for kids like me.
posted by rtha at 11:09 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 11:09 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Oh please go ahead and just let your daughter do wat she wants to do. IT may be the only time of her live when that really is possible.
posted by Namlit at 11:09 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Namlit at 11:09 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
I learned to read well before I started school. Wasn't any more bored than a normal kid. I just got to read more advanced books and got really really good grades. High fives all around. :)
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:13 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:13 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
My mom says I shouldn't really encourage my just-turning-4-year-old daughter to read too soon because she'll just get bored in school.
Then that would be a SCHOOL problem, not any problem with your child.
Since schools suck, therefore parents should prevent their kids from becoming literate despite a kid's demonstrated interest?? Huh??? "What? No." indeed.
posted by hush at 11:13 AM on September 8, 2014 [10 favorites]
Then that would be a SCHOOL problem, not any problem with your child.
Since schools suck, therefore parents should prevent their kids from becoming literate despite a kid's demonstrated interest?? Huh??? "What? No." indeed.
posted by hush at 11:13 AM on September 8, 2014 [10 favorites]
I learned to read early. The teacher made us bring home a book to practice with our parents, and then read with her to prove our skills. Screw that! I would just wing it on the day of. I'm sure it taught me confidence, or to think on my feet, or something.
I wasn't bored at school. In the early years you're not there to learn, you're there to socialize anyways. (I was bored in the later years though.)
It sounds like your mom is thinking what would be best for a teacher, not your kid. It's easier as a teacher to have attentive bright students, sure.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:15 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I wasn't bored at school. In the early years you're not there to learn, you're there to socialize anyways. (I was bored in the later years though.)
It sounds like your mom is thinking what would be best for a teacher, not your kid. It's easier as a teacher to have attentive bright students, sure.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:15 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Elementary educator here. No, there is no compelling evidence to suggest this at all and your mom may just be projecting her own anxieties about teaching reading onto your child. I am very surprised and rather disappointed that a person with education experience like your mother would suggest such a thing. The students in my classes who learned to read early are the ones who are happiest and most successful.
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014 [25 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014 [25 favorites]
I think pressuring kids who aren't ready to read is a bad idea. I think if your daughter is already putting the concepts together and showing an interest in reading under her own power, it would be silly to deny her that pleasure based on some half-assed memory of a study that came out 20 years ago.
posted by Sara C. at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014
posted by Sara C. at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014
Your mom, based on her education and experience, says your daughter will be bored. Your mother bases her opinion on what she knows and average child will do - (and without factoring in the influence of their parent.)
Your daughter is not a statistics: she is a unique individual with her own learning interests and ability. My take is that it is a parent's responsibility to nurture their children's interests and ability. You should do what feels right.
I learned to read very early on, pretty much on my own. I became a voracious reader and was never bored as long as I had access to books. Yes, school could feel boring at times ... but, then, almost any child will tell you that school can be boring, whether they are excellent or poor at reading.
posted by aroberge at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Your daughter is not a statistics: she is a unique individual with her own learning interests and ability. My take is that it is a parent's responsibility to nurture their children's interests and ability. You should do what feels right.
I learned to read very early on, pretty much on my own. I became a voracious reader and was never bored as long as I had access to books. Yes, school could feel boring at times ... but, then, almost any child will tell you that school can be boring, whether they are excellent or poor at reading.
posted by aroberge at 11:17 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Encourage her to learn to read and then look for a school that doesn't suck.
Like rtha, I learned to read around age 3 (my mom used to teach reading!) and then went to a kindergarten where they told me to "just nap" while other kids were learning the alphabet. Really? Bite me.
posted by wintersweet at 11:18 AM on September 8, 2014
Like rtha, I learned to read around age 3 (my mom used to teach reading!) and then went to a kindergarten where they told me to "just nap" while other kids were learning the alphabet. Really? Bite me.
posted by wintersweet at 11:18 AM on September 8, 2014
Nthing: no way, if your daughter seems ready, teach her to read!
If your mom continues to press this point, you might try asking whether she would willfully hold back a child from other skills that are achieved at some developmental phases, like learning to throw a ball or saying "please" and "thank you."
posted by nicodine at 11:20 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
If your mom continues to press this point, you might try asking whether she would willfully hold back a child from other skills that are achieved at some developmental phases, like learning to throw a ball or saying "please" and "thank you."
posted by nicodine at 11:20 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
When she is ready, teach her to read! If, for some reason, she does get bored in school - there are advances classes and other activities you can do to stimulate her brain. You wouldn't want to, for lack of better works, "dumb her down" so that she's on a similar level as other children her age.
Nurture her talent, so she can write a book and buy you a house someday! :)
posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah at 11:23 AM on September 8, 2014
Nurture her talent, so she can write a book and buy you a house someday! :)
posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah at 11:23 AM on September 8, 2014
My opinion is that it's bad to try to force young children to read or do math or other academic skils if they are more interested in playing or coloring or what-have-you, but if she's interested in it and excited about it then by all means indulge her interest.
Like many said above, my skills were above those of my classmates, and what happened was my skill levels were tested and I was promoted early.
Academically being promoted early was a good thing, it kept me challenged in school and very likely kept me in school.
Socially it's a bit of a sticky wicket. I'll share an extreme example: a teacher I once had told a story of an 11-year-old kid who was in his high school physics class. At some point the class went to a competition, and afterward they couldn't find the kid for the longest time. Eventually they found him playing on the swings. The takeaway? A kid is still a kid, no matter what their academic skills level. So, if your daughter ends up in gifted classes or at higher skills level classes, make sure she gets plenty of kid time too.
But don't hold her back just in case she might one day be bored in school. Holding her back will likely result in frustration and other behavioral issues.
posted by vignettist at 11:23 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Like many said above, my skills were above those of my classmates, and what happened was my skill levels were tested and I was promoted early.
Academically being promoted early was a good thing, it kept me challenged in school and very likely kept me in school.
Socially it's a bit of a sticky wicket. I'll share an extreme example: a teacher I once had told a story of an 11-year-old kid who was in his high school physics class. At some point the class went to a competition, and afterward they couldn't find the kid for the longest time. Eventually they found him playing on the swings. The takeaway? A kid is still a kid, no matter what their academic skills level. So, if your daughter ends up in gifted classes or at higher skills level classes, make sure she gets plenty of kid time too.
But don't hold her back just in case she might one day be bored in school. Holding her back will likely result in frustration and other behavioral issues.
posted by vignettist at 11:23 AM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
No. If she knows how to read, and enjoys doing so, then you should by all means encourage that.
I was able to read by age 3. My mom says that my pre-K sent me home with several books of theirs by mistake, because I was able to read them and thus the teachers thought they were mine, since clearly I must have memorized them as no kid younger than 4 can read.
My parents put me in a Catholic school for kindergarten and 1st grade. I was bored and this was a problem. I was moved to a private school for 2nd grade which worked out better for me. Then we moved house and I went into the public school system, where they noticed I was above grade level and put me in advanced classes starting in 4th grade.
Bottom line is it depends what school you put her in and whether they have advanced classes. Some schools will be able to handle it and some won't. Find out beforehand.
posted by tckma at 11:24 AM on September 8, 2014
I was able to read by age 3. My mom says that my pre-K sent me home with several books of theirs by mistake, because I was able to read them and thus the teachers thought they were mine, since clearly I must have memorized them as no kid younger than 4 can read.
My parents put me in a Catholic school for kindergarten and 1st grade. I was bored and this was a problem. I was moved to a private school for 2nd grade which worked out better for me. Then we moved house and I went into the public school system, where they noticed I was above grade level and put me in advanced classes starting in 4th grade.
Bottom line is it depends what school you put her in and whether they have advanced classes. Some schools will be able to handle it and some won't. Find out beforehand.
posted by tckma at 11:24 AM on September 8, 2014
I would have loved for reading to be more fun for my kid and less of a struggle. He didn't get bored, he got discouraged. We still have to encourage him at an age when I was reading voraciously on my own.
Encourage your daughter and nurture her gifts. There is no such thing as loving to read too much causing you to burn out sooner. I read joyously throughout my childhood. It only caused me trouble in class when I had a teacher who forbade reading ahead. Which was stupid.
Maybe the "reading too soon" thing was a pet theory of one of your mom's professors or something?
posted by emjaybee at 11:30 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Encourage your daughter and nurture her gifts. There is no such thing as loving to read too much causing you to burn out sooner. I read joyously throughout my childhood. It only caused me trouble in class when I had a teacher who forbade reading ahead. Which was stupid.
Maybe the "reading too soon" thing was a pet theory of one of your mom's professors or something?
posted by emjaybee at 11:30 AM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
If your child is bored while others are learning to read, she can always practice reading on her own. If she gets a teacher who mandates participation on the same level from all students (e.g., everyone has to complete the same activity/worksheet every day), she might indeed get frustrated but that's because that would be a frustrating situation, and you can cross that bridge if/when you come to it. Properly supported, she will not languish in boredom.
posted by teremala at 11:44 AM on September 8, 2014
posted by teremala at 11:44 AM on September 8, 2014
Another Early Reader here...I was so enthralled with reading anything/everything that I would read the ingredients on my cereal box because I was not allowed to have books at the food table.
Learning to manage their attitudes in a classroom of other kids who are not as advanced is a valuable skill for bright children to master. One sibling showed off in Kindergarten--and soon had to figure out how to make friends anyway. Another sibling instinctively knew other kids would take longer but that it was important that others have a chance to also answer and participate.
posted by calgirl at 11:53 AM on September 8, 2014
Learning to manage their attitudes in a classroom of other kids who are not as advanced is a valuable skill for bright children to master. One sibling showed off in Kindergarten--and soon had to figure out how to make friends anyway. Another sibling instinctively knew other kids would take longer but that it was important that others have a chance to also answer and participate.
posted by calgirl at 11:53 AM on September 8, 2014
Extroverted bookworm here -- we do exist!
My reading comprehension was regularly testing at post-high school levels by the time I entered kindergarten; reading is the only talent I've ever had, so I went completely nuts with it as soon as it 'clicked.' And man, now I wish I'd gone to one of the elementary schools that my fellow MeFites attended, because yeah, for me, school was boring as hell. Just unimaginably boring, every single day, kindergarten especially, but really every year, right on through the end of high school.
It was incredibly frustrating to sit there paging through novels while my classmates did the 'A is for Apple' thing, and my refusal to play along at my grade level earned me a fair amount of rebuke. I don't regret learning how to read as early as I did, I just wish my teachers had known what the hell to do with me.
Once my elementary school teachers realized that I wasn't paying attention because I was bored out of my skull, they recommended that I skip a grade. They approved me for a few more skips, but the class advancement process was incredibly socially disruptive -- I started third grade barely a month after I turned 7, and the age gap between me and my classmates did not exactly get less awkward as time passed -- so I just did the one. It didn't help. For the rest of the time I was in school, I was two steps ahead in reading ability but five steps back in literally everything else. So for that reason, I will always recommend that people with super-reader kids should try enrolling them in advanced-level standalone English classes rather than advancing them by grade levels wholesale, but it's probably easier for kids with more well-rounded intellects.
Regardless, my love of interacting with people and my love of sitting down in a cozy corner with a book are not and have never been in opposition at all. I firmly believe that having gained the ability to read at a very early age opened doors for me that would have otherwise remained closed. Reading is an unequivocally good thing. Plus, you can take it from me: Being an advanced reader will make a lot of people think you're really smart, even if you're not smart at all!
posted by divined by radio at 11:55 AM on September 8, 2014
My reading comprehension was regularly testing at post-high school levels by the time I entered kindergarten; reading is the only talent I've ever had, so I went completely nuts with it as soon as it 'clicked.' And man, now I wish I'd gone to one of the elementary schools that my fellow MeFites attended, because yeah, for me, school was boring as hell. Just unimaginably boring, every single day, kindergarten especially, but really every year, right on through the end of high school.
It was incredibly frustrating to sit there paging through novels while my classmates did the 'A is for Apple' thing, and my refusal to play along at my grade level earned me a fair amount of rebuke. I don't regret learning how to read as early as I did, I just wish my teachers had known what the hell to do with me.
Once my elementary school teachers realized that I wasn't paying attention because I was bored out of my skull, they recommended that I skip a grade. They approved me for a few more skips, but the class advancement process was incredibly socially disruptive -- I started third grade barely a month after I turned 7, and the age gap between me and my classmates did not exactly get less awkward as time passed -- so I just did the one. It didn't help. For the rest of the time I was in school, I was two steps ahead in reading ability but five steps back in literally everything else. So for that reason, I will always recommend that people with super-reader kids should try enrolling them in advanced-level standalone English classes rather than advancing them by grade levels wholesale, but it's probably easier for kids with more well-rounded intellects.
Regardless, my love of interacting with people and my love of sitting down in a cozy corner with a book are not and have never been in opposition at all. I firmly believe that having gained the ability to read at a very early age opened doors for me that would have otherwise remained closed. Reading is an unequivocally good thing. Plus, you can take it from me: Being an advanced reader will make a lot of people think you're really smart, even if you're not smart at all!
posted by divined by radio at 11:55 AM on September 8, 2014
There are an AWFUL lot of books and other reading material in the world. If your child enjoys reading, she will never be bored. If she is, the school isn't doing it's job. It's part of the school's function to encourage your child to learn, surely?
I enjoyed reading a lot as a child. I would get a book and sit in the corner and read rather than play with the other kids. I also had one of my teachers tell my parents that this was a problem. A few years later, I got pushed ahead two reading grades at school by a teacher who was impressed with my ability to read. These days, I find myself loving language and how words are used. Coming across a word I don't know the meaning of is like getting a new and exciting present, as more of the world is opened up to me. If I'd been held back by that teacher, I wouldn't have such fun reading now.
Someone has to be at one end of the bell curve. On this occasion, it happens to be that your child is that someone. The fact that she's intelligent for her age is a good thing. Holding her back would not be a good thing.
posted by Solomon at 11:57 AM on September 8, 2014
I enjoyed reading a lot as a child. I would get a book and sit in the corner and read rather than play with the other kids. I also had one of my teachers tell my parents that this was a problem. A few years later, I got pushed ahead two reading grades at school by a teacher who was impressed with my ability to read. These days, I find myself loving language and how words are used. Coming across a word I don't know the meaning of is like getting a new and exciting present, as more of the world is opened up to me. If I'd been held back by that teacher, I wouldn't have such fun reading now.
Someone has to be at one end of the bell curve. On this occasion, it happens to be that your child is that someone. The fact that she's intelligent for her age is a good thing. Holding her back would not be a good thing.
posted by Solomon at 11:57 AM on September 8, 2014
From a classroom management standpoint, yeah, it's easiest if everyone comes in primed to learn but not having learned anything yet. Then your lesson plans work perfectly, no kid is blurting out all the answers or being bored, etc. etc.
But god, no, she's ready to read, so teach her. And watch this too.
Also remember that there's a difference between teaching tact / patience and dumbing yourself down: one is changing behaviors ("you're farther ahead, others don't have to be reminded of this all the time, but you should still plow farther ahead and be rewarded by the pleasures of knowledge rather than the feeling of superiority"), and another is changing pursuit of interests ("you're farther ahead, others aren't, so you slow your pace to match them"). The pressure for dumbing down is especially strong for girls (due to other parents' behaviors in the video), so be ready for it.
posted by batter_my_heart at 11:59 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
But god, no, she's ready to read, so teach her. And watch this too.
Also remember that there's a difference between teaching tact / patience and dumbing yourself down: one is changing behaviors ("you're farther ahead, others don't have to be reminded of this all the time, but you should still plow farther ahead and be rewarded by the pleasures of knowledge rather than the feeling of superiority"), and another is changing pursuit of interests ("you're farther ahead, others aren't, so you slow your pace to match them"). The pressure for dumbing down is especially strong for girls (due to other parents' behaviors in the video), so be ready for it.
posted by batter_my_heart at 11:59 AM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
So, from a Child Development perspective (BA in child dev and 10+ years working with infant-kinders) you are doing great. If it is an interest of hers and you are working at the reading with no stress or pressure you are right on track. It is not something that NEEDS to be pushed at her age if she isn't interested. But she is interested so, great! Especially great if you work early reading into her daily life and other areas of interest as well as specific reading or letter practice.
posted by Swisstine at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Swisstine at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
I'm hoping more educators weigh in here, as this is an area I've been meaning to to do research on and learn more about. Not the idea of discouraging reading, but maybe what your mom is getting at has to do with the trend public education has taken in instituting more rigorous academics at younger and younger ages. Ages when developmentally it would be more appropriate and beneficial to be learning through unstructured play. I can't speak authoritatively on the subject, unfortunately.
That said, I think reading to your kids, with your kids, and encouraging them to learn in fun ways is something every parent should do if possible. It sounds like you are worried your child is spending too much time in front of the TV, so her reading wouldn't be taking away from playtime but rather screen time. That would be a really good thing, I think.
posted by JenMarie at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
That said, I think reading to your kids, with your kids, and encouraging them to learn in fun ways is something every parent should do if possible. It sounds like you are worried your child is spending too much time in front of the TV, so her reading wouldn't be taking away from playtime but rather screen time. That would be a really good thing, I think.
posted by JenMarie at 12:03 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Well, first of all, if your daughter is interested in reading then of course you should help her learn and help her enjoy learning!
Now, about your mom and her oddly off base comment… was your mom's comment made kind of offhandedly? I can easily imagine my mom coming out with something like that just as a sort of anxiety reflex (like, "great thing has happened - grandchild is smart - but reflex is to worry about everything, so I will invent a reason to worry and make that comment even though I am an educated, rational person who should know better.")
Anyway, ignore your mom and nurture your girl, and when she goes to school make sure she's with a teacher who celebrates bright kids and helps them rather than ignoring them in favor of the slower ones.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:09 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Now, about your mom and her oddly off base comment… was your mom's comment made kind of offhandedly? I can easily imagine my mom coming out with something like that just as a sort of anxiety reflex (like, "great thing has happened - grandchild is smart - but reflex is to worry about everything, so I will invent a reason to worry and make that comment even though I am an educated, rational person who should know better.")
Anyway, ignore your mom and nurture your girl, and when she goes to school make sure she's with a teacher who celebrates bright kids and helps them rather than ignoring them in favor of the slower ones.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:09 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm actually surprised to see so many advocates of early reading here. My understanding is that there's a substantial body of learning/EC development experts who recommend against it-- not on spiritual or "woo"-based grounds, and not because it's inconvenient for the classroom teacher, but because developmentally a young child doesn't yet have all the spatial, syntactic, etc. skills necessary for mature reading, and will learn to read in an inefficient way that may result in learning disabilities long-term, or at a minimum in reading skills that are less optimal than they could have been for that individual.
This site, for instance, quotes Louise Bates Ames as saying that “a delay in reading instruction would be a preventative measure in avoiding nearly all reading failure" in older children. Googling "dangers early reading" brings up a fair number of other sources, many with plausible neurological explanations for delaying reading instruction (although I haven't really seen many empirical studies one way or the other).
Since early reading presumably correlates with intelligence and attentive parenting, the host of anecdotal evidence here--"I learned to read early, and I'm a great reader!"-- doesn't really speak one way or another, imho, to the possibility of inbuilt inefficiencies from early reading training (take smart people with good parents, and you'll get good readers. But are they as good as they could have been?)
I think it's also worth considering the fairly limited available upside to early reading training-- all the research I've seen suggests that reading skills equalize out by about 3rd grade, so it's not like you'd be giving your child any long-term advantage.
posted by Bardolph at 12:12 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
This site, for instance, quotes Louise Bates Ames as saying that “a delay in reading instruction would be a preventative measure in avoiding nearly all reading failure" in older children. Googling "dangers early reading" brings up a fair number of other sources, many with plausible neurological explanations for delaying reading instruction (although I haven't really seen many empirical studies one way or the other).
Since early reading presumably correlates with intelligence and attentive parenting, the host of anecdotal evidence here--"I learned to read early, and I'm a great reader!"-- doesn't really speak one way or another, imho, to the possibility of inbuilt inefficiencies from early reading training (take smart people with good parents, and you'll get good readers. But are they as good as they could have been?)
I think it's also worth considering the fairly limited available upside to early reading training-- all the research I've seen suggests that reading skills equalize out by about 3rd grade, so it's not like you'd be giving your child any long-term advantage.
posted by Bardolph at 12:12 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
I was an early reader, but it sounds like my experience was a little different from the others.
I was able to read at about three years old, and I devoured books. So much so that my well-meaning family bought me a Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom set when I was probably around 5, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when I was 8. I was able to read the books, I didn't have a problem with the words, but I didn't understand the books. I may have been capable of reading at a high-school level, but I was still, as it were, only eight years old and I was interested in the things eight-year-olds are interested in, not scathing satire of late-20th-century society wrapped in puns and metaphors that adults would readily understand regarding bureaucracy and religion and other grown-up concepts. It really put me off fiction until I was in high school, and even then I struggled to finish novels. Don't force what you think the kid should be reading, because age-appropriate isn't just their ability to read the words, it's also the content and your kid's interests that matter.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:21 PM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
I was able to read at about three years old, and I devoured books. So much so that my well-meaning family bought me a Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom set when I was probably around 5, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when I was 8. I was able to read the books, I didn't have a problem with the words, but I didn't understand the books. I may have been capable of reading at a high-school level, but I was still, as it were, only eight years old and I was interested in the things eight-year-olds are interested in, not scathing satire of late-20th-century society wrapped in puns and metaphors that adults would readily understand regarding bureaucracy and religion and other grown-up concepts. It really put me off fiction until I was in high school, and even then I struggled to finish novels. Don't force what you think the kid should be reading, because age-appropriate isn't just their ability to read the words, it's also the content and your kid's interests that matter.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:21 PM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
Early reader here. Unable to think of a downside to beginning to master such a valuable skill at an early age.
My school experience was horrible in most of elementary and decidedly rough in high school, but reading skills had nothing to do with it.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 12:23 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
My school experience was horrible in most of elementary and decidedly rough in high school, but reading skills had nothing to do with it.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 12:23 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Don't hold your kid back; there are options for kids who are ahead of the material. It's not like people who struggle with the material aren't bored in school. School is boring!
posted by spaltavian at 12:23 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by spaltavian at 12:23 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was bored in school. I also learned how to read at age 2. However, I STRONGLY doubt the two are related. The reason I was bored at school was because I was a "Gifted Kid" (tm), and my school was ill-equipped to handle that. If I'd been in a more challenging environment, I wouldn't have been bored.
The age at which I learned how to read was only a symptom, so to speak, of my intellect; and my parents didn't really do anything to try to teach me aside from letting me watch Sesame Street. I'm sure if they hadn't, I'd have learned some other way. And if I hadn't been a "gifted kid", I wouldn't have learned how to read that early even if my parents had done a full-on Clockwork Orange forcefeeding of Cookie Monster and Big Bird 24/7 with me.
Moreover, being able to read actually helped with my being bored in school - because I could sneak ahead in my schoolbooks when I was done with my classwork and read all sorts of weird random shit, and learning that weird random shit kept my mind engaged.
Read to your kid. She'll either learn to read or she won't, and she'll learn whenever she's ready. The school issue is a separate issue.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:30 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
The age at which I learned how to read was only a symptom, so to speak, of my intellect; and my parents didn't really do anything to try to teach me aside from letting me watch Sesame Street. I'm sure if they hadn't, I'd have learned some other way. And if I hadn't been a "gifted kid", I wouldn't have learned how to read that early even if my parents had done a full-on Clockwork Orange forcefeeding of Cookie Monster and Big Bird 24/7 with me.
Moreover, being able to read actually helped with my being bored in school - because I could sneak ahead in my schoolbooks when I was done with my classwork and read all sorts of weird random shit, and learning that weird random shit kept my mind engaged.
Read to your kid. She'll either learn to read or she won't, and she'll learn whenever she's ready. The school issue is a separate issue.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:30 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've heard the same thing about the theory of delaying reading until in school from an educator. The mother of a close friend, a teacher and eventual administrator, did not teach her daughter, my friend, to read early based on current (80s era) education theory. Lots of anecdotal evidence here, about love of reading, but not much information from educators on the subject.
posted by feste at 12:53 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by feste at 12:53 PM on September 8, 2014
Well, I learnt to read early and voraciously, and all my teachers had to do to acommodate me is assign me more difficult books than they would normally do.
Which I would then read under my desk instead of listening to the lesson. Which they then complained about to my parents.
So, you know.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:15 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Which I would then read under my desk instead of listening to the lesson. Which they then complained about to my parents.
So, you know.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:15 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
I agree with the other early readers on here, based on just my personal experiences. I was an early reader (started around 3). I remember being a bit bored in 1st and 2nd grade, but my parents and my teachers noticed that and gave me additional things to read and do to keep me engaged. I then went into a G&T program from 3rd through 6th grade, which challenged me even more. I'm an avid reader even today (I'm nearly 30 now). I would let your daughter read if she's showing an interest in that. Hopefully your school system has a program for kids like her so she doesn't get bored.
posted by FireFountain at 1:16 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by FireFountain at 1:16 PM on September 8, 2014
I only ever had one incident of being truly dumbfounded my one of my children's teachers. In second grade, my daughter was reading well above grade level and her teacher encouraged her and helped me find age-appropriate materials for her to devour. When she got to third grade, her teacher basically told me that I should discourage her reading materials that were at her reading level (therefore far above her grade level) because she would just eventually get bored and then her reading level would slip. She wanted me to not let my daughter read the things that were interesting to her, and instead read the things that her peers were reading, regardless of the fact that she was bored to tears by those books.
I told her, in no uncertain terms, that I would not be doing that, and if she had a problem with it we should probably look into changing classes.
She was moved to a new class the next week, and now at age 14 reads above college level. So, yeah. No. She won't get bored in school if she reads age-appropriate and level-appropriate books and if she does, that's a school issue, not a parental issue.
posted by cooker girl at 1:29 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
I told her, in no uncertain terms, that I would not be doing that, and if she had a problem with it we should probably look into changing classes.
She was moved to a new class the next week, and now at age 14 reads above college level. So, yeah. No. She won't get bored in school if she reads age-appropriate and level-appropriate books and if she does, that's a school issue, not a parental issue.
posted by cooker girl at 1:29 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Add me to the chorus of voices saying that it's just fine for your kid to be an accelerated learner, especially in terms of reading. I knew how to read before entering kindergarten and didn't feel bored by the reading we did do.
I *would* however say that you should expect to be a more active participant in finding ways to challenge your child; not all of her teachers are going to have the time and inclination to accommodate her, and she'll need you to both advocate for her and provide her with challenges outside the classroom. My parents would go out of their way to encourage us to read for pleasure outside of the assigned reading for school, for instance, which led to me consuming a considerable amount of large chapter books throughout middle and high-school that weren't assigned in class.
posted by Aleyn at 1:58 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
I *would* however say that you should expect to be a more active participant in finding ways to challenge your child; not all of her teachers are going to have the time and inclination to accommodate her, and she'll need you to both advocate for her and provide her with challenges outside the classroom. My parents would go out of their way to encourage us to read for pleasure outside of the assigned reading for school, for instance, which led to me consuming a considerable amount of large chapter books throughout middle and high-school that weren't assigned in class.
posted by Aleyn at 1:58 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
One thing to consider when you mention the idea of her actively reading instead of watching shows is that her reading time still should almost entirely be with a parent/partner for a few more years at least. I think that is where the real concern about early reading comes along. Sometimes when parents teach young children to read, the ability to see/recognize/say the words is stressed over comprehension and language understanding (and joy) which can be dangerous for long term skills.
posted by Swisstine at 2:06 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by Swisstine at 2:06 PM on September 8, 2014
My mom was an elementary school teacher and swears I taught myself to read from Sesame Street. I started reading at 3. When I was 3, it was 1976, and when I started kindergarten the worst thing EVER was that I "got" to sit and read to the teacher while the other kids had free coloring time. I never really got bored in school (more decided to not bother with it in my teens), and I graduated early, but I don't blame any of that on learning to read early. Learning to read early may have contributed to my lifelong love of books. I took them everywhere, and our house was so full of readers our parents had to develop a rule that books were NOT allowed at the dinner table. I was involved in the gifted classes, and I remember in grade 3 being sent to the fifth grade class for reading time. That was how they handled it then, I suppose.
When my own kids went off to kindergarten, only one of the three was close to reading. Not because I didn't read to them (I did! Loads!) and not because they were kept from learning to read (I wish they'd wanted to more! It killed me! Why is it not genetic??!). My youngest learned earlier because he did all things earlier, I suppose. But kindergarten shocked me. Where we were praised for coloring in the lines, my kids were sent home with homework. They had to learn so much more than I was taught in school at that age. As someone else said above - they had to know a list of words on sight before they left kindergarten. Where I saw reading as a lovely enjoyable escape thing, my kids were drilled to learn it for school. Maybe that affected their love for it? Who knows. Maybe they just didn't have the right teachers.
I'm not an expert in education, and I have only had the three boys (who are all doing well and one did develop a love for books later, so two out of three yay)...but that's my little anecdotal blurb about reading. My mom, in her teaching, would love those kids who came in with extra aptitude or skills - it meant they could help with the kids who weren't up to the level they should be. So kids in her third grade class who knew all the required math would sit with kids who didn't, and learn how to coach and help.
On the other hand (putting on my old lady voice), kids these days have forgotten how to tolerate boredom. School is chock full of it, especially for the kids who excel, and everyone says things like, "How do you keep kids from getting bored?" You don't. You teach them how to deal with boredom. Yes, you have to write out all your work even if you solved the math in your head. Yes, you have to outline the paper even if you already wrote it. Why? Those are requirements. They're not testing kids on their answers, they're testing them on their ability to proceed down the right path to the answers. Eventually kids will figure out why they had to write all their work...but it probably won't be until it benefits them by helping them see where they went wrong. Growing up in my day, before the internet had seeped into every corner of my world, I dealt with boredom by reading. YMMV.
posted by routergirl at 2:07 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
When my own kids went off to kindergarten, only one of the three was close to reading. Not because I didn't read to them (I did! Loads!) and not because they were kept from learning to read (I wish they'd wanted to more! It killed me! Why is it not genetic??!). My youngest learned earlier because he did all things earlier, I suppose. But kindergarten shocked me. Where we were praised for coloring in the lines, my kids were sent home with homework. They had to learn so much more than I was taught in school at that age. As someone else said above - they had to know a list of words on sight before they left kindergarten. Where I saw reading as a lovely enjoyable escape thing, my kids were drilled to learn it for school. Maybe that affected their love for it? Who knows. Maybe they just didn't have the right teachers.
I'm not an expert in education, and I have only had the three boys (who are all doing well and one did develop a love for books later, so two out of three yay)...but that's my little anecdotal blurb about reading. My mom, in her teaching, would love those kids who came in with extra aptitude or skills - it meant they could help with the kids who weren't up to the level they should be. So kids in her third grade class who knew all the required math would sit with kids who didn't, and learn how to coach and help.
On the other hand (putting on my old lady voice), kids these days have forgotten how to tolerate boredom. School is chock full of it, especially for the kids who excel, and everyone says things like, "How do you keep kids from getting bored?" You don't. You teach them how to deal with boredom. Yes, you have to write out all your work even if you solved the math in your head. Yes, you have to outline the paper even if you already wrote it. Why? Those are requirements. They're not testing kids on their answers, they're testing them on their ability to proceed down the right path to the answers. Eventually kids will figure out why they had to write all their work...but it probably won't be until it benefits them by helping them see where they went wrong. Growing up in my day, before the internet had seeped into every corner of my world, I dealt with boredom by reading. YMMV.
posted by routergirl at 2:07 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I should mention, I learned to read right around the same time that school taught us, in early first grade (I had turned five in the spring before). Going into it, I was very interested in the topic: I understood that it was a way of communicating, and I wanted it. I knew the names and shapes of letters from Kindergarten, as well as how to write and recognize specific words, but my parents were deliberately not teaching me "reading" because I already didn't like to play with kids my age and they thought learning to read early would only make things worse. However, it literally only took a day of "here's how it all fits together" instruction for me to be able to write and read basic sentences independently, and from there I just blew through the curriculum. I was soon grouped with the kids who had already known how to read, and by the end of the year the teacher had assigned me to help others. So I'm not convinced that holding back on early instruction would actually mean that she'd keep pace with her classmates. Interest and aptitude are powerful motivators, especially in combination.
posted by teremala at 2:27 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by teremala at 2:27 PM on September 8, 2014
Psh. My little girl was reading sight words at 2. She was given plenty to do in Kindergarten, at her level. She loves reading, and while she is challenged at school, I feel that early reading (and other learning) has really eased her way.
posted by moira at 2:31 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by moira at 2:31 PM on September 8, 2014
This question had me thinking all day about reading, my relationship with my parents and my own early school years. My anecdote may or may not be useful...
My parents were quite young, just out of high school themselves, and both pretty good students, so they were full of enthusiasm about reading and learning. There were letters in block and script around the dining room ceiling as a border/decoration for us kids and they were super-encouraging about reading.
I could read before kindergarten, so... yeah. I was bored sometimes. I kept reading and reading and by second grade they started listening to teachers who said things like "he is getting ahead of himself" if they were invested in me and "Well don't you have a little Mr. Smartypants on your hands?" if they didn't like me personally. So then this big personality and skill-set of mine that they nurtured and helped develop was constantly being held up because teachers would preach to them about "developmental stages" and "socialization".
So then grades 2-6 or so were about me being socialized properly and not advanced too much. I was encouraged at home, but felt like I couldn't go anywhere with it because skipping a grade or doing really advanced stuff would have messed up my socialization. Which is funny because I was a freaky little guy anyway and it really couldn't have gotten any worse...
The thing is that nothing was consistent. I couldn't skip a grade or really move on at school, but Mom had me reading Hawaii at home. Seriously. Every now and then I will see the same edition we had on the shelf at a thrift store and remember those 3 months of reading Michener. I was able to read difficult stuff at home and had a couple of teachers who had me working on some of our schools first computers (in 1982!), but to move on to the next grade would have made me a social outcast and maybe even potentially a serial killer living in the woods unable to relate to anyone ever.
I guess any advice I had would be:
Whatever you decide to do, Be Consistent and don't make it obvious that all of this stuff is going on because of her. She should never know as a child that any of this is happening. If you are going to let her develop her reading skills naturally and maybe a little later, ok, whatever, but just don't make a thing out of it. If you are going to nurture her curiosity and get her started early, great, but then don't tamp it down when teachers and educators get upset about her knowing more than they are prepared for her to know. In my experience, they will.
posted by Tchad at 2:39 PM on September 8, 2014
My parents were quite young, just out of high school themselves, and both pretty good students, so they were full of enthusiasm about reading and learning. There were letters in block and script around the dining room ceiling as a border/decoration for us kids and they were super-encouraging about reading.
I could read before kindergarten, so... yeah. I was bored sometimes. I kept reading and reading and by second grade they started listening to teachers who said things like "he is getting ahead of himself" if they were invested in me and "Well don't you have a little Mr. Smartypants on your hands?" if they didn't like me personally. So then this big personality and skill-set of mine that they nurtured and helped develop was constantly being held up because teachers would preach to them about "developmental stages" and "socialization".
So then grades 2-6 or so were about me being socialized properly and not advanced too much. I was encouraged at home, but felt like I couldn't go anywhere with it because skipping a grade or doing really advanced stuff would have messed up my socialization. Which is funny because I was a freaky little guy anyway and it really couldn't have gotten any worse...
The thing is that nothing was consistent. I couldn't skip a grade or really move on at school, but Mom had me reading Hawaii at home. Seriously. Every now and then I will see the same edition we had on the shelf at a thrift store and remember those 3 months of reading Michener. I was able to read difficult stuff at home and had a couple of teachers who had me working on some of our schools first computers (in 1982!), but to move on to the next grade would have made me a social outcast and maybe even potentially a serial killer living in the woods unable to relate to anyone ever.
I guess any advice I had would be:
Whatever you decide to do, Be Consistent and don't make it obvious that all of this stuff is going on because of her. She should never know as a child that any of this is happening. If you are going to let her develop her reading skills naturally and maybe a little later, ok, whatever, but just don't make a thing out of it. If you are going to nurture her curiosity and get her started early, great, but then don't tamp it down when teachers and educators get upset about her knowing more than they are prepared for her to know. In my experience, they will.
posted by Tchad at 2:39 PM on September 8, 2014
I was an early reader and I was bored in school because school fucking sucks ass - the two things had nothing at all to do with one another.
Never deny your child any kind of skill or ability. Would it be any less ridiculous for your mother to suggest that you not let your daughter listen to music until she is eight? Not smell flowers until she hits puberty? Not taste anything sweet until she is married? What the fuck?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:17 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Never deny your child any kind of skill or ability. Would it be any less ridiculous for your mother to suggest that you not let your daughter listen to music until she is eight? Not smell flowers until she hits puberty? Not taste anything sweet until she is married? What the fuck?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:17 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
If she's significantly brighter than the rest of the class, she's going to be bored regardless.
If she's not, not.
If she wants to read, let her read.
If not, not.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:27 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
If she's not, not.
If she wants to read, let her read.
If not, not.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:27 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm actually surprised to see so many advocates of early reading here. My understanding is that there's a substantial body of learning/EC development experts who recommend against it-- not on spiritual or "woo"-based grounds, and not because it's inconvenient for the classroom teacher, but because developmentally a young child doesn't yet have all the spatial, syntactic, etc. skills necessary for mature reading, and will learn to read in an inefficient way that may result in learning disabilities long-term, or at a minimum in reading skills that are less optimal than they could have been for that individual.
This site, for instance, quotes Louise Bates Ames as saying that “a delay in reading instruction would be a preventative measure in avoiding nearly all reading failure" in older children. Googling "dangers early reading" brings up a fair number of other sources, many with plausible neurological explanations for delaying reading instruction (although I haven't really seen many empirical studies one way or the other).
Those articles are about delaying explicit instruction in reading. The OP is not providing explicit reading instruction to her child. The danger those studies refer to is in pushing children to read before they are ready. For example, many children are not developmentally equipped to read until six years old. Those kids should not receive instruction that is not developmentally appropriate; pushing kids to read too soon, before they are ready, can actually drive reading development backward.
That said, this is not the OP's situation. OP, from what I can tell, you're not explicitly teaching your daughter to read; you're introducing her to language, letters and the alphabet. This is all entirely developmentally appropriate. If the result of all this is that your child learns to read early--and some kids DO learn to read early WITHOUT explicit instruction--then that is fine and you certainly shouldn't discourage it. The key will be for you to follow her lead--gauge how interested she is in learning to read. As long as you are not pushing her, she'll be fine. Read out loud to her, point out letters, let her read to you, etc. All of that is perfectly fine and completely developmentally appropriate.
If your child is bored in school later because she is reading above grade level, then she needs to have her needs met in the classroom by being given more challenging work to do. The solution won't be to delay the reading ability she's already developing on her own.
Will she be bored later in school? Maybe. But it'll be because her school's not equipped to challenge her as an accelerated student, not because you let her learn to read early. I agree with Aleyn that you will need to be an advocate for her and make sure she is being challenged enough in and out of school.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:38 PM on September 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
This site, for instance, quotes Louise Bates Ames as saying that “a delay in reading instruction would be a preventative measure in avoiding nearly all reading failure" in older children. Googling "dangers early reading" brings up a fair number of other sources, many with plausible neurological explanations for delaying reading instruction (although I haven't really seen many empirical studies one way or the other).
Those articles are about delaying explicit instruction in reading. The OP is not providing explicit reading instruction to her child. The danger those studies refer to is in pushing children to read before they are ready. For example, many children are not developmentally equipped to read until six years old. Those kids should not receive instruction that is not developmentally appropriate; pushing kids to read too soon, before they are ready, can actually drive reading development backward.
That said, this is not the OP's situation. OP, from what I can tell, you're not explicitly teaching your daughter to read; you're introducing her to language, letters and the alphabet. This is all entirely developmentally appropriate. If the result of all this is that your child learns to read early--and some kids DO learn to read early WITHOUT explicit instruction--then that is fine and you certainly shouldn't discourage it. The key will be for you to follow her lead--gauge how interested she is in learning to read. As long as you are not pushing her, she'll be fine. Read out loud to her, point out letters, let her read to you, etc. All of that is perfectly fine and completely developmentally appropriate.
If your child is bored in school later because she is reading above grade level, then she needs to have her needs met in the classroom by being given more challenging work to do. The solution won't be to delay the reading ability she's already developing on her own.
Will she be bored later in school? Maybe. But it'll be because her school's not equipped to challenge her as an accelerated student, not because you let her learn to read early. I agree with Aleyn that you will need to be an advocate for her and make sure she is being challenged enough in and out of school.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:38 PM on September 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
Well, my sister and I both read at three and we WERE terribly, horribly bored in school. But that was the school's fault for being a shitty school that failed at its job of providing an appropriate education for our needs. At least being good readers gave us something to do in class while the other kids were doing whatever it was they were doing.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:43 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:43 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
The alternative is to prevent her from reading. That would be unpleasant for everyone, and set a horrible precedent. If she's bright and curious, give her good books from the library on lots of subjects. Spend time outdoors learning about bugs, plants, the night sky, weather. Get art books and other beautiful pictures for all ages. Share interesting music.
Bored in school? Many, if not most, kids are. Show her how to find things that interest her, how to explore whatever environment she's in, how to use downtime to think and dream. I used to get in trouble for daydreaming, but it was torture to listen to another child struggle through reading aloud when I was dying to know what happened to Ann & David by the end of the book, which I was not allowed to read to the end of. Do your child the favor of supplying challenging materials to help her keep learning and enjoying it.
posted by theora55 at 5:02 PM on September 8, 2014
Bored in school? Many, if not most, kids are. Show her how to find things that interest her, how to explore whatever environment she's in, how to use downtime to think and dream. I used to get in trouble for daydreaming, but it was torture to listen to another child struggle through reading aloud when I was dying to know what happened to Ann & David by the end of the book, which I was not allowed to read to the end of. Do your child the favor of supplying challenging materials to help her keep learning and enjoying it.
posted by theora55 at 5:02 PM on September 8, 2014
I was an early and voracious reader and I was bored in school. This is correlation, not causation.
I got bumped up a grade and that helped a bit. Eventually, I spent most of elementary school reading whatever I wanted to read and doing my other assignments quickly so I could get back to reading.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:06 PM on September 8, 2014
I got bumped up a grade and that helped a bit. Eventually, I spent most of elementary school reading whatever I wanted to read and doing my other assignments quickly so I could get back to reading.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:06 PM on September 8, 2014
Nthing that a smart kid will be bored in school whether or not she already knows how to read before she gets there. This is what gifted and talented programs, or cool alternative schools, are for.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:31 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:31 PM on September 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
I was also an early reader - I was reading before I was 3, and have been a voracious reader since I can remember. If she is ready to read, definitely encourage her. It's never too early to begin a love of books and reading!
posted by SisterHavana at 6:59 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by SisterHavana at 6:59 PM on September 8, 2014
As a lifetime early reader, I learned in around sixth grade that some adult literature (ie Thomas Hardy) went over my head because just because I knew all the big words and was experienced in reading didn't mean I had the life experience and context to understand, say, marital relationships.
This was a very valuable life lesson, I think, and a really beneficial hurdle for "smart kids" to find themselves needing to clear.
So much of reading, especially for advanced readers, is really learning about culture, society and life within various specific contexts, and getting a head start on that is really valuable.
posted by sweetkid at 7:11 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
This was a very valuable life lesson, I think, and a really beneficial hurdle for "smart kids" to find themselves needing to clear.
So much of reading, especially for advanced readers, is really learning about culture, society and life within various specific contexts, and getting a head start on that is really valuable.
posted by sweetkid at 7:11 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
School is boring because it's regimented, adults tell kids when to eat, when to go to the bathroom, when to talk, when not to, which kids they'll spend the day with, and when they can go home.
It's not boring because your daughter followed her heart and learned how to read before a few of her future classmates did. She doesn't owe it to the school to follow a proscribed pace of learning that's determined by the school's lesson planning (aka crowd management) needs.
posted by vitabellosi at 7:44 PM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
It's not boring because your daughter followed her heart and learned how to read before a few of her future classmates did. She doesn't owe it to the school to follow a proscribed pace of learning that's determined by the school's lesson planning (aka crowd management) needs.
posted by vitabellosi at 7:44 PM on September 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
There's a big difference between whole-child-early-literacy and teaching-a-child-to-read. Conflating the two will get you no end of trouble.
Even if your child wants to read, sitting down with flashcards and prompting sight words is developmentally inappropriate compared to reading books together and allowing her to pick out words she knows (if she's capable and wants to). Yes, some children can learn to read very early (*waves*) but this does not mean they are academically gifted or that they will be successful at school. It certainly seems like it in the early years but by the time highschool rolls around the differences are minimal.
Yes, if your child is eager you can sit down with sight words and flash cards and writing apps and get them reading and writing at a high level. This doesn't serve them nearly as well as wide and varied reading with you, talking about what they've read, and general fine motor skill activities. Literacy is not just words on the page, it's about comprehension and understanding and narrative and so on. I see it in my daughter's class with kids who can identify sight words but they may as well be shapes for all the understanding they have. They can't put them in sentences, they can't identify parts of the word, they often can't tell you anything about it until they stop and say the word a few times. Or they can't follow a story at all, it's just a mishmash of words. That's where a lot of early reader instruction fails dismally, because it is decontextualised from reading as an activity, from understanding and from narrative.
Read more with her, let her read on her own, chat about what you've read, get some board books that she can memorise and read to herself, get her started with good pencils and good crayons for art and 'writing', read with her, read beside her. Identify letters and words and her name and numbers and things like that. All of those will eventually lead to literacy. Leave the honest-to-god-instructional stuff to school, because if you're sending her to school then she'll get enough of it from them. She doesn't need you drilling her too.
posted by geek anachronism at 7:56 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Even if your child wants to read, sitting down with flashcards and prompting sight words is developmentally inappropriate compared to reading books together and allowing her to pick out words she knows (if she's capable and wants to). Yes, some children can learn to read very early (*waves*) but this does not mean they are academically gifted or that they will be successful at school. It certainly seems like it in the early years but by the time highschool rolls around the differences are minimal.
Yes, if your child is eager you can sit down with sight words and flash cards and writing apps and get them reading and writing at a high level. This doesn't serve them nearly as well as wide and varied reading with you, talking about what they've read, and general fine motor skill activities. Literacy is not just words on the page, it's about comprehension and understanding and narrative and so on. I see it in my daughter's class with kids who can identify sight words but they may as well be shapes for all the understanding they have. They can't put them in sentences, they can't identify parts of the word, they often can't tell you anything about it until they stop and say the word a few times. Or they can't follow a story at all, it's just a mishmash of words. That's where a lot of early reader instruction fails dismally, because it is decontextualised from reading as an activity, from understanding and from narrative.
Read more with her, let her read on her own, chat about what you've read, get some board books that she can memorise and read to herself, get her started with good pencils and good crayons for art and 'writing', read with her, read beside her. Identify letters and words and her name and numbers and things like that. All of those will eventually lead to literacy. Leave the honest-to-god-instructional stuff to school, because if you're sending her to school then she'll get enough of it from them. She doesn't need you drilling her too.
posted by geek anachronism at 7:56 PM on September 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
My little girl started reading along with me at two. I also am a bookworm. My daughter's also super social.... and she loves books. She's an eight-year-old reading cheerleader who sells Girl Scout cookies and is athletically superior to me at any age. Teach her to read by reading with her, flood her mind with knowledge, instill a love of learning with a healthy dose of confidence. Give her every advantage you can, and encourage her skills and traits that you can't take credit for.
posted by doyouknowwhoIam? at 8:00 PM on September 8, 2014
posted by doyouknowwhoIam? at 8:00 PM on September 8, 2014
Kids are weird. Mine can read simple words some days and other days refuses to. It's become a Thing with her because she's picked up that reading words gets adult attention as a tiny toddler reading. Somedays she wants that, some days she doesn't. If you make this feel like an evaluation, it will likely backfire. Our fix has been that we read on demand all the time, surround her with books, tell her and listen to her stories, and confirm when she reads ("Yes, that's baby. B-a-b-y") unprompted. We put her reading things in one area and let her choose if she wants to play with them, and her school has a literacy table where she can mess around with letters and writing.
Basically, offer it but don't emphasize it or particularly reward it. If she's interested, she'll read early. Reading isn't about intelligence directly, there are plenty of smart kids who read late too.
I taught my older kids how to read in their third language as preteens with no literacy in their first two languages. In hindsight, I wish I had spent the first six months reading aloud nursery rhymes and songs and poems and stories to get them used to narratives and print conventions. What worked for the mechanics was some brightly coloured and very simple phonics flashcards for a month, then 100 lessons to read over several months, and lots of drawing and doodling to acquire the fine motor skills for writing. And reading all the time, over and over. The hardest part wasn't the phonics - that was a snap once they figured out the sounds mostly matched the words - my dyslexic son learned to read fastest of all of them. It was getting them to love books and stories, because they had only had occasional TV and functional conversation.
Talk to your daughter, surround her with stories and books and the materials to make books - photographs and drawings about a day out pasted to a file folder to make a "book", having her draw a scribble and tell a story, then you draw the next part of the story until the page is covered with dragons and brave knights in doodles, singing nursery rhymes and learning songs by heart and declaiming poems, watching good movies with books in the same world and then exploring the narrative further (our frying pan after Tangled became a prop) - that's going to help her with reading much more than a phonic workbook.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:12 PM on September 8, 2014
Basically, offer it but don't emphasize it or particularly reward it. If she's interested, she'll read early. Reading isn't about intelligence directly, there are plenty of smart kids who read late too.
I taught my older kids how to read in their third language as preteens with no literacy in their first two languages. In hindsight, I wish I had spent the first six months reading aloud nursery rhymes and songs and poems and stories to get them used to narratives and print conventions. What worked for the mechanics was some brightly coloured and very simple phonics flashcards for a month, then 100 lessons to read over several months, and lots of drawing and doodling to acquire the fine motor skills for writing. And reading all the time, over and over. The hardest part wasn't the phonics - that was a snap once they figured out the sounds mostly matched the words - my dyslexic son learned to read fastest of all of them. It was getting them to love books and stories, because they had only had occasional TV and functional conversation.
Talk to your daughter, surround her with stories and books and the materials to make books - photographs and drawings about a day out pasted to a file folder to make a "book", having her draw a scribble and tell a story, then you draw the next part of the story until the page is covered with dragons and brave knights in doodles, singing nursery rhymes and learning songs by heart and declaiming poems, watching good movies with books in the same world and then exploring the narrative further (our frying pan after Tangled became a prop) - that's going to help her with reading much more than a phonic workbook.
posted by viggorlijah at 8:12 PM on September 8, 2014
My mom also has a Master's in education and thinks your mom is wrong. I learned to read early, and when I was mistakenly (they did not read my file) put in a lower class where I was bored, my mom noticed and had them test me and put me in a higher functioning class. And when that teacher said that in her experience there was no point to teaching a child to read early "because their reading scores will tend to average out around fifth grade" my mom got so angry the teacher wasn't challenging the students enough she was still upset about it 20 years later. She wanted me to contact that teacher to tell her how my reading scores had remained consistently in the 99th percentile and I'd gotten into an Ivy League school. Had to talk her out of it, told her she would just have to enjoy the philosophical victory. So yeah, if your kid gets bored at school the solution is more stimulation, not less.
posted by Soliloquy at 9:07 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Soliloquy at 9:07 PM on September 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
All four of my kids have learned to read well before starting school - not because they were pushed into it, but because they were growing up in a house where people read. I believe that early start has been a great help to them through the rest of their school years, allowing them to stay ahead of most other kids in grades with no additional effort. More importantly, though, being able to read well has made them able to learn so much more and to have so much more fun with all the worlds that books take you to in a way TV can't.
By all means, don't push kids too hard, but please don't stifle them if they show an interest in reading - it's about the most important skill they'll ever learn.
posted by dg at 5:16 AM on September 9, 2014
By all means, don't push kids too hard, but please don't stifle them if they show an interest in reading - it's about the most important skill they'll ever learn.
posted by dg at 5:16 AM on September 9, 2014
Don't base your goals for your kid on the lowest common denominator.
posted by WeekendJen at 6:49 AM on September 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by WeekendJen at 6:49 AM on September 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
My kids are just starting first grade. They entered kindergarten with good to excellent reading skills. There were kids in their classes who barely could recognize a few words.
This is apparently not uncommon in the New York City public school system. We have a high immigrant population, and English might not be a child's first language. So, their school handled it as follows:
Reading comprehension levels are given a letter according to skill. A is the lowest. Kids are separated within each class, and taught according to their abilities. To move from level A to B, then to C, they are expected to meet certain goals. They must be able to recognize a certain number of words and understand their meanings. They have to answer questions about things that are read to them, and what they themselves read. The questions and concepts they need to understand are more complex as they progress. All the books they read are given a letter, assigned by difficulty. If a child has an "E" book, they not only have to be able to comprehend what they are reading, but be able to analyze the narrative somewhat abstractly.
My kids started in "D". We were told that they would have to progress to level "E" by the end of the year. My son was in "E" by November. My daughter by December. They then moved into "F" and "G". They were constantly challenged by their teachers to improve their reading skills.
So. When my son complained he was bored with reading and that the books were too easy in October, we spoke with his teacher. Who explained to us that his comprehension was fine, but his narrative skills weren't quite there yet. She let him read more difficult books for a few weeks, but worked with him as well.
It was not like this when I was in school 20 years ago. I remember being horribly bored as a kid in school. But times have changed.
So now, our kids are starting first grade. Possibly ahead of some of their peers. Perhaps not. But not being behind means that if they need work in other subjects they'll have time to focus on them.
I agree with everyone here who has said, don't hold your kids back. Let them learn and thrive. Good luck!
posted by zarq at 8:20 AM on September 9, 2014
This is apparently not uncommon in the New York City public school system. We have a high immigrant population, and English might not be a child's first language. So, their school handled it as follows:
Reading comprehension levels are given a letter according to skill. A is the lowest. Kids are separated within each class, and taught according to their abilities. To move from level A to B, then to C, they are expected to meet certain goals. They must be able to recognize a certain number of words and understand their meanings. They have to answer questions about things that are read to them, and what they themselves read. The questions and concepts they need to understand are more complex as they progress. All the books they read are given a letter, assigned by difficulty. If a child has an "E" book, they not only have to be able to comprehend what they are reading, but be able to analyze the narrative somewhat abstractly.
My kids started in "D". We were told that they would have to progress to level "E" by the end of the year. My son was in "E" by November. My daughter by December. They then moved into "F" and "G". They were constantly challenged by their teachers to improve their reading skills.
So. When my son complained he was bored with reading and that the books were too easy in October, we spoke with his teacher. Who explained to us that his comprehension was fine, but his narrative skills weren't quite there yet. She let him read more difficult books for a few weeks, but worked with him as well.
It was not like this when I was in school 20 years ago. I remember being horribly bored as a kid in school. But times have changed.
So now, our kids are starting first grade. Possibly ahead of some of their peers. Perhaps not. But not being behind means that if they need work in other subjects they'll have time to focus on them.
I agree with everyone here who has said, don't hold your kids back. Let them learn and thrive. Good luck!
posted by zarq at 8:20 AM on September 9, 2014
Anecdata: I picked up reading when I was three and a half, solely based on my parents reading to me. My mother told me that when I was in kindergarten she asked me if I was bored because I already knew all the alphabet stuff that the other kids were learning. I said no, it just meant I got to say the answer first.
Looking back, I think learning to deal with (potential) boredom might be as important a lesson as anything else, and a lesson that kids don't always learn.
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:52 AM on September 9, 2014
Looking back, I think learning to deal with (potential) boredom might be as important a lesson as anything else, and a lesson that kids don't always learn.
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:52 AM on September 9, 2014
Yes, some children can learn to read very early (*waves*) but this does not mean... that they will be successful at school. It certainly seems like it in the early years but by the time highschool rolls around the differences are minimal.
Certainly true in my case. My study skills are absolutely absyma - embarrassingly so - because for the first eleven years of my formal education I was never allowed to be an a situation where I needed to develop any. The schools I went to were so obsessed with social promotion and keeping kids in their age groups regardless of their development that kids on both ends of the learning curve might as well have not bothered. I consider myself largely an autodidact despite all the hours I logged in being physically present in K-12 classrooms.
My sister, for example, routinely tested at least three years ahead in every subject every time we went to a new school. My mother tried to get them to put her ahead a grade, but the administrators kept saying, "She won't have anything in common with kids a year older." Mom kept replying, "She doesn't have anything in common with the classmates she has now!" But no dice. I asked her to lie about my age but she was too honest.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:07 PM on September 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
Certainly true in my case. My study skills are absolutely absyma - embarrassingly so - because for the first eleven years of my formal education I was never allowed to be an a situation where I needed to develop any. The schools I went to were so obsessed with social promotion and keeping kids in their age groups regardless of their development that kids on both ends of the learning curve might as well have not bothered. I consider myself largely an autodidact despite all the hours I logged in being physically present in K-12 classrooms.
My sister, for example, routinely tested at least three years ahead in every subject every time we went to a new school. My mother tried to get them to put her ahead a grade, but the administrators kept saying, "She won't have anything in common with kids a year older." Mom kept replying, "She doesn't have anything in common with the classmates she has now!" But no dice. I asked her to lie about my age but she was too honest.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:07 PM on September 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
As a lifetime early reader, I learned in around sixth grade that some adult literature (ie Thomas Hardy) went over my head because just because I knew all the big words and was experienced in reading didn't mean I had the life experience and context to understand
That's the beauty of books - they're still there for the rereading when you've developed enough to get stuff you didn't the first time. Rereading is one of the great joys in life.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:08 PM on September 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
That's the beauty of books - they're still there for the rereading when you've developed enough to get stuff you didn't the first time. Rereading is one of the great joys in life.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:08 PM on September 9, 2014 [4 favorites]
I was an early reader - my older sister was learning to read in first grade, every day she came home and taught 3 or 4 year old me what she had learned. When I started kindergarten, there was one other person in the class who knew how to read. That kid and I are still friends today, 25ish years later. And my sister is still an excellent teacher.
posted by troika at 2:04 PM on September 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by troika at 2:04 PM on September 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
Your mother--who has a degree in education and has taught kindergarten--thinks that the solution to the "problem" of a would-be early reader is to hold that reader back because of possible future boredom in school.
She's finding a permanent solution to a hypothetical temporary problem.
Anecdote: My parents (mostly my mom) taught my little brother and me to read when we were about three. We were both good readers by the time we went to kindergarten. Reading gave us an escape from the stresses specific to our childhoods, exposed us to ideas we wouldn't have otherwise known about, and fed our love of language, systems and codes. Most of all, we stayed curious. We held onto the idea that questions were there to be asked and ideas were just waiting to be explored and understood. This has had a direct impact on the way each of us has lived our adult lives.
Mom was a 25-year-old high-school graduate with zero teaching experience. I was a three-year-old kid with a short attention span and a visual impairment. If she could teach me, then you can teach your kiddo.
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 4:26 PM on September 9, 2014
She's finding a permanent solution to a hypothetical temporary problem.
Anecdote: My parents (mostly my mom) taught my little brother and me to read when we were about three. We were both good readers by the time we went to kindergarten. Reading gave us an escape from the stresses specific to our childhoods, exposed us to ideas we wouldn't have otherwise known about, and fed our love of language, systems and codes. Most of all, we stayed curious. We held onto the idea that questions were there to be asked and ideas were just waiting to be explored and understood. This has had a direct impact on the way each of us has lived our adult lives.
Mom was a 25-year-old high-school graduate with zero teaching experience. I was a three-year-old kid with a short attention span and a visual impairment. If she could teach me, then you can teach your kiddo.
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 4:26 PM on September 9, 2014
I wonder if your mom is projecting some of her issues onto your daughter. You say she taught briefly before going out on disability - was she a bright and intelligent woman who found her working life short-circuited through no fault of her own, and was bored and discontented by having to stay home? Is she from a background where intelligent, well-read girls who did well in school found themselves underemployed and with restricted horizons afterwards due to sexism? It was still A Thing when I was a little kid that a bright girl was "getting above her station." (Not in my family, thankfully, but other girls had to deal with that mentality.)
Regardless, if your little girl loves to read, don't restrict her!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:50 AM on September 10, 2014
Regardless, if your little girl loves to read, don't restrict her!
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 10:50 AM on September 10, 2014
No. In so many ways no. I was reading when I was three, my sisters were 3 or 4. I was the only one bored in school, not because I could read, but because I have always been over-enamoured of my own intelligence (such as it is).
Teach her to read. Love of books is something that will give her joy for her entire life.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:43 PM on September 10, 2014
Teach her to read. Love of books is something that will give her joy for her entire life.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:43 PM on September 10, 2014
Better to be bored than to feel inferior to all the other kids right from the get-go.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:25 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 7:25 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hi. I read too early. When I was in kindergarten, they literally put me in a reading group of one.
Yes, I was often bored in school, and this set me up for bad habits later on.
However, the problem here was not reading too early, but rather with not being given other challenges and structure.
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:26 AM on September 11, 2014
Yes, I was often bored in school, and this set me up for bad habits later on.
However, the problem here was not reading too early, but rather with not being given other challenges and structure.
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:26 AM on September 11, 2014
As a parent of an early reader, I'd say encourage it. I've seen nothing but positive outcomes.
At the same time, I'd recommend doing your best to encourage early math and music, too. Otherwise, those skills may come harder and, therefore, feel more discouraging.
posted by agog at 9:43 PM on September 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
At the same time, I'd recommend doing your best to encourage early math and music, too. Otherwise, those skills may come harder and, therefore, feel more discouraging.
posted by agog at 9:43 PM on September 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by the christopher hundreds at 10:51 AM on September 8, 2014